Bill Cosby has explained that he thinks guns are to blame for deaths such as Trayvon Martin's, not race. Martin was shot dead in February 2012, aged 17, whilst he was walking home from convenience store, to his father's house. The man that admitted shooting him - George Zimmerman - told investigating police officers that he had done so in self-defence.

Talking on CNN's 'State of the Union,' the veteran comedian said "It doesn't make any difference if he's racist or not racist.If he's scared to death and not a racist, it's still a confrontational provoking of something". Cosby has personal history of gun crime. His son Ennis was shot and killed in 1997, whilst he changed a tyre just off a Southern freeway. The gunman, Michael Markhasev was convicted the following year of killing Ennis Cosby during the bungled robbery.

Bill admitted that he "used to have a gun" and explained that he had bought it to "protect" his family. However, he explained in the interview that, although he has nothing against people keeping firearms in their home for protection, he also believes that people change when they are out on the street, in possession of a gun. "When a person has a gun, sometimes their mind clicks that this thing ... will win arguments and straighten people out." He added "When you tell me that you're going to protect the neighborhood that I live in, I don't want you to have a gun, I want you to be able to see something, report it and get out of the way."